July is Rotary Changeover Month. This is when new leadership takes over at the 33,000+ Rotary Clubs in the 520+ Districts and at Rotary International. Shekhar Mehta has taken over as President of Rotary International, your Clubs have new leadership teams, and in your District, we have a new dynamic leadership team of proven managers.
Just before the beginning of every Rotary Year, the incoming President of Rotary International unveils the theme for the year. The Theme for President Mehta's year is "Serve to Change Lives". Unified under this theme we embark on our journey in this new Rotary year
What we must all understand is that the District was created by Rotary International and it reports to the President and Board of Directors of Rotary International through the District Governor, who is an officer of Rotary International. The District has two important functions. The first function is to work with our Clubs to educate and ask them to function in compliance with Rotary International’s bylaws and the requests and requirements of the President and Board of Rotary International. The second key function is to assist our Clubs with the best job possible.
Based on many years of experience working with our District, I do not think that being District Governor gives me the right to lead unilaterally. My idea of District leadership is that the true management of our district is composed of past, present, and future District Governors in the present chain of nominations which we call the “District Governor Stream”. The District Governor Stream as a team will make decisions that will enable management of the District in a manner that will allow decisions to be the same for multiple succeeding District Governors. I see myself as District Governor as the first among equals, or, to say it differently, I am the Chair of a team of senior managers. I will rarely use “I” or “my” and will favor “we” and “our.” When I use these words, please understand that I mean the District Governor Chain and other senior managers in our District, who will work together as a team.
We thank Mary, our immediate past District Governor, for her many successes in pushing our District upward with her hard work, charm, enthusiasm, and excellent projects. We also thank PDG Mahbub Ahmad for his role in setting creating the spirit of collaboration and teamwork in the DG chain and PDG Greg Acaro for helping us plan our reorganization and goals. We welcome our DGE for next year, fellow Bronxville Rotarian Marty Schulman, and the District Governor who will succeed him, J. Loren Russell., and the past two District Governors, PDG Mahbub Ahmed, and the immediate PDG, Mary Shackleton, all of whom will be important members of the District team.
The reason that I am a proud Rotarian is that I accept the theory of social anthropology that we human beings have a hard-wired need to aid and support other humans that grew out of the stone and ice age survival need to work together and sacrifice for the tribe. Social anthropologists have made a neurological study using MRI brain scans that indicate that the part of the brain that rewards human behavior with pleasure sensations and pleasant thoughts is activated when we give to or aid other humans. There are also findings that we humans see far more than our immediate family as an extended family that we humans feel responsible for aiding and supporting.
What this means to us is that that none of us can have a satisfying life without putting effort into aiding humanity. Aiding others who are in need is one of our two principal functions in Rotary. The other function is to form working friendships with those who wish to aid the needy through our Clubs. Should either of these two purposes fail, then Rotary fails. We will concentrate on these two purposes.
We must therefore have a steady stream of projects that aid the needy and that we execute these projects well. In addition, it means that we must have attractive Club activities and meetings with other Rotarians who want to provide that aid. In other words, we do not support Rotary as a social club, we support Rotary as a world-class organization that is totally dedicated to providing humanitarian aid to the needy and creating working friendships with others who want to provide humanitarian aid.
It is in aiding the needy that draws us into an effective team. Our connection is not our education, our status, our jobs. Our social connection with other Rotarians is that we all feel compelled to and receive great satisfaction in aiding those who are in need.
What this means to you, fellow Rotarians is that our District team is dedicated to aiding our Clubs to do the best possible job of providing humanitarian aid and to aid our Clubs in providing their members the best possible Club experience for people who want to aid humanity.
Here is a snapshot of what we will try to accomplish in the next Rotary Year:
1. An Ethics and Dispute Resolution function has been created that will first create a District Ethics Policy to be reviewed and adopted by our Board of Directors. The purpose of an Ethics Policy is to provide a set of guidelines for behavior that is not ethically appropriate for a Rotarian that will aid the Committee in its role as a dispute resolution center by publishing a set of rules to use in resolving complaints and disputes. To ensure its independence, this Committee will not report to the District Governor but to the District Board. In addition, when acting as a dispute resolution center, this Committee will act in confidence, looking to our Board of Directors for ultimate guidance and approval.
2. In addition, we intend to build on Mary’s and Marty’s success in building our Club’s membership and we will add additional emphasis on membership retention through engagement and an improved member experience.
3. As of July 1, we will have a new organization that is both streamlined and is set up more like a successful business to provide empowered leadership below the District Governor, something that has not existed in the past.
The new organization with the names of members of the District staff who are responsible for each District function is available on the District website under the menu item District Organization,
You will see that we have a new leadership category called the Deputy Governor, a senior manager who reports to the District Governor and who supervises multiple Assistant Governors. We have new Assistant Governors who have District functions, in addition to the Area Assistant Governors. An Assistant Governor will report to a Deputy Governor and all issues that concern the Assistant Governor will be worked out with the Deputy Governor, who will take counsel when needed with the District Governor.
The end result of this reorganization is that the District Governor will not have to micromanage multiple functions and that senior leadership is expanded – with proven and experienced managers.
4. Communication and Public Image is key to raising public awareness and building success in any Rotary endeavor. We are consolidating our Communications and Public Image activities into a collaborative and cohesive group led by our Vice-Governor.
5. We will provide District training to Clubs in small groups and will provide Rotary knowledge workshops, all using face-to-face, Zoom and Zoom hybrids. Incidentally, even for face-to-face training, we will undertake to make Zoom attendance available as well.
6. We will find ways to better involve Bermuda Rotarians, now that we have become used to Zoom and will have more hybrid events that will allow our Bermuda Rotarians to participate. Within the constraints of our budget, we will endeavor to provide our Bermuda Rotarians in-person training as well.
7. For our Rotaractors – we will keep pace with Rotary International’s efforts to elevate Rotaract and to involve more Rotaractors in District Committees.
8. There will be other innovations as well.
I promise you that your District officers will be helpful and courteous. We are all volunteers and none of us shall be treated in a commanding manner. Good manners and courtesy are very important to us and will be insisted upon. As your District Governor, I will always be there and easy to reach.
Thank you for honoring me with this position. We will accomplish much if we all work together as a close team of colleagues and take full advantage of the Rotary International Foundation, which will help fund our projects. To our new District team, I thank each of you for volunteering to work with us. I guarantee that we will have a good time while we work to benefit humanity and our Clubs and act on behalf of and benefit Rotary International.